The Kensington Lakes Activities Association welcomed the Bobcats with open arms to round out a fourth six-team division in the newly formed West league with Brighton, Hartland, Howell, Milford and Pinckney.

A second high school in Howell that opened in 2007 was expected to fill that slot, but Howell Parker closed because of declining enrollment and for financial reasons after one school year. As a result, the KLAA reached beyond its already-bloated geographical footprint to add Grand Blanc to its ranks in the 2009-10 school year.

It was a mutually beneficial partnership. The KLAA balanced out its divisions and Grand Blanc had a stable athletic partnership after the Big Nine Conference, its home since 1960, withered from 10 teams to five.

But Grand Blanc will no longer be part of the KLAA beginning in 2018-19, having been cast out of the league by a 13-1 vote. Grand Blanc cast the only vote in its favor.

The stated reason is that Grand Blanc is simply too far from the rest of the KLAA schools. That's strange. Grand Blanc isn't any farther north than it was when the KLAA enthusiastically welcomed the Bobcats eight years ago.

Don't tell me that the defection of five schools in Waterford and Walled Lake suddenly put Grand Blanc on the fringe. Those schools aren't in the KLAA West, so they didn't cross paths with Grand Blanc regularly. Those schools are also 24 to 37 miles from Grand Blanc, so they weren't exactly neighboring districts.

The votes by Hartland and Howell to oust Grand Blanc were particularly curious. Brighton can be given a pass, because the Bulldogs will gain rivals closer than Grand Blanc in the new divisional alignment, but the difference is negligible or even farther away for Hartland and Howell.

Hartland is 25.4 miles from Grand Blanc. Except for football, which has a different alignment, the Eagles will play in a division with Livonia Stevenson (33.8 miles), Northville (28.7) and Novi (24.9).

Howell is 36.3 miles from Grand Blanc. The Highlanders are 37.8 miles from Stevenson, 32.8 miles from Northville and 28.9 miles from Novi.

Of course, cross-divisional trips to Wayne Memorial or Westland John Glenn aren't convenient for any of Livingston County's three remaining KLAA schools.

So, it makes no sense that it merely comes down to geography.

In 30 years of covering sports in Flint, the only instance in which a league member was removed was when the Big Nine kicked out Flint Beecher in 2002. The stated reason was that Beecher didn't have the minimum number of sports required for membership, something that had been an issue for years. The unstated reason was that Big Nine schools were fed up with the behavior of a particular coach who was perceived to be the catalyst for unruly behavior at Beecher events.

In that case, the Big Nine had reasonable grounds. Beecher was not admitted to the league with a light lineup of sports, only to have the rug pulled out. The situation developed over time as the school district was unable to field enough sports. Grand Blanc's location has remained the same.

Trying to find out how an individual school feels about the move is fruitless, because the KLAA allows only league president Nicole Carter, the principal at Novi, to speak on sensitive league matters.

Grand Blanc, of course, is under no such restriction any longer. Bobcats Athletic Director Jerrod Dohm said he was disappointed by the move and that the school is now hoping to reunite with familiar Genesee County rivals in the Saginaw Valley High School Association.

Getting rid of Grand Blanc makes it easier for the other schools to win in the marquee sports of football and boys' basketball. Grand Blanc was a combined 87-33 in those sports in West play with nine division championships. Grand Blanc also happens to be the largest school in the KLAA, which was a factor in decisions by Milford and Pinckney to leave the league.

The ousting of Grand Blanc must mean that Belleville is a lock to be admitted and take its place. It also means that Lapeer's bid is dead on arrival. Saline has also applied for membership.

For Grand Blanc, this should turn out to be a positive. Folks in the Flint area have been saying for years that Grand Blanc should be competing with its natural rivals. League games involving Grand Blanc have been lightly attended, because of travel and the lack of established rivalries.

But those are problems throughout the KLAA, not just Grand Blanc problems.

It makes you wonder if there is more to this than simply location.

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BillKhan.